Phone kiosks are excuse for ad hoardings – Bore
FORMER council leader Sir Albert Bore has criticised large payphone boxes in Birmingham as an excuse for unwanted advertising boards on already cluttered streets.
The black-framed kiosks, introduced in an age of smart phones, have been erected by a private company and feature large advertising displays.
The company that erects them claims they provide easy communications for ethnic minorities and the disabled – though councillors suspect they are in fact just a ploy to install large advertising boards which might otherwise be refused planning permission.
This week two of the boxes in New Street did not work while another at Snow Hill swallowed change but did not allow a call.
Though two more were operating, all of the kiosks asked for dollars on their displays.
One of the boxes which did work, on the corner of High Street, displayed a mobile number on the receiver’s handset, rather than a Birmingham landline.
Cllr Sir Albert Bore, whose Ladywood ward covers the city centre, said: “I along with my two colleagues in Ladywood have been receiving for five or six months planning application after planning application for the erection of these kiosks, particularly within the city centre.
“Many, if not most of them, have been opposed by the planners.
“But of course a planning application which is refused by the planning authority can be appealed to the Secretary of State, and that’s what I understand has happened.
“We have tried to avoid this happening, because really it is about advertising and not access to phone networks.” Cllr Bore believes the kiosks, often sited yards from other payphones or free broadband networks, are little more than an excuse to introduce more advertising into the city centre. “A phone kiosk is generally not required in the loca- tions where they have been installed,” he said. “Planners have to make sure in that allowing for advertising, particularly in the city centre, we don’t give rise to clutter.
“This is an attempt to put in advertising and not give people access to phones.
“Many, many residents of Birmingham feel our streets are already cluttered with advertising and want to see some of that clutter taken out.”
A member of Birmingham’s civic street team was unsure about whether one of the kiosks in New Street was up and running.
“Some work some don’t,” he said. “They are used by the homeless for shelter.”
The kiosks have been installed by Infocus Public Networks Ltd, an electronic communications network provider.
The company has already won legal battles with councils in London and Wiltshire for the right to install the street furniture.
Infocus did not reply to requests for comment about the Birmingham kiosks. However, in 2013 the company said the boxes would be wider than traditional designs to enable wheelchair access, and open at one side to deter potential crime.
Its website shows disabled people using the kiosks and says they are solar-powered, have zero carbon footprint and the company is licensed by communications regulator Ofcom.
Managing director Derek Parkin has said in a planning application: “Despite the growth in the use of mobile phones, there remains a need for public payphones, particularly for minorities within urban communities. Ethnic minorities rely on public payphones to contact relatives overseas and many tourists use public payphones to make calls, using international telephone cards.”
This is an attempt to put in advertising and not give people access to phones Councillor Sir Albert Bore